By Joycelyn Williams
A competitive economy must have competitive companies producing goods and services that can compete in the global marketplace in terms of features, quality and price. There can be no competitive economy without competitive products.
Today’s article is a discussion on this matter. In this era, downstream activities aimed at reducing customers’ costs and risks are emerging as the drivers of value creation and sources of competitive advantage. Years ago, upstream activities such as sourcing, production and logistics were the main drivers of strategy. This change in strategic emphasis for business is something which all firms must recognise.
Downstream activities such as delivering a product or service for specific consumption circumstances are increasingly the reason customers choose one brand over another, and provide the basis for customer loyalty. Companies that do not recognise this, emphasise their products and production and measure success in terms of units moved and how efficiently it was produced. If this new thinking is right, all our companies must